


The Dino Dee-Lite Motel

by Rambert



Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [3]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: American Politics, Angst and Tragedy, Awkward Tension, Bitterness, Breakfast, Cooking, Cussing, Eggs, Emotional, Emotional Constipation, Government Agencies, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Independent New Vegas (Fallout), Jealousy, Love Letters, M/M, Mojave Wasteland (Fallout), NCR | New California Republic, Novac (Fallout), POV First Person, POV Queer Character, Slow Burn, Spoilers, Trans, Travel, Wangst, unintentional weight loss is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 14:33:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28511958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rambert/pseuds/Rambert
Summary: Boone wants to return to Novac, and has an idea for Casey. [mind the tags, canon spoilers]
Relationships: Craig Boone/Courier (Fallout), Craig Boone/Non-Binary Courier
Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085471
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	The Dino Dee-Lite Motel

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing to preface this with except that the Fallout: New Vegas soundtrack is INCREDIBLE to write to, especially the track "Mountaintop Movement". Oh and the Jealousy tag is bc Casey is jealous of the attention Boone gets at Mojave Outpost (you'll see)

It's been a rough couple of weeks. There's been no shortage of work available down at the Mojave Outpost due to them being so understaffed, but the pay is miserable if anything at all. Mostly at this point we're working for a safe bed to sleep in at night and a steady supply of food and water from all the caravans coming through, which is something I suppose. Getting to shower regularly again is pretty neat. And they certainly appreciate the help.

But I almost prefer the nights spent by the campfire alone with Boone, not that I'd tell him that. When he hangs around NCR he's insufferable, allowing them to coerce him into drinking too much and getting rowdy and telling disgusting stories, and it's only when we're alone out in the wastes again on our hunting treks that I stop hating his guts like I do with all the rest of them.

We're taking a midday break in a tiny speck of mountain shade, panting and sweating like mole rats in the Mojave heat, when Boone asks a question out of the blue.

"Ever been to that power plant out by Novac, Case?"

"HELIOS One, right? Nope, can't say that I have," I say while staring out at the heat lines wiggling the cacti in the distance.

The place is crawling with NCR who've prided themselves on "liberating" the plant from the Brotherhood of Steel and have taken a very firm anti-prospector stance. I've avoided it.

Not that I'm impressed with the BoS either as an organization... all they were trying to do was reinstate some kind of pre-war weapon, at least that's what the gossip around the Mojave is. And the Brotherhood themselves seem rather cultish and weird, obsessing over hoarding technology away from everyone and never leaving their precious bunkers.

But the incompetent NCR isn't even running the plant at capacity enough for the locals from Novac and other nearby towns to actually get power-- they still have to rely on generators or do without, despite a giant power plant full to the brim with government employees being literally down the street.

"Back when I was still on active duty, I heard the asshole they hired to fix up the place doesn't know jack shit," Boone says, and I snort in amusement.

Typical NCR, hiring someone completely unqualified then wondering why they're not getting results...

"I saw you tinkering around with that robot after we stumbled on that radscorp nest and it started spitting sparks. You're pretty good at fixing up tech aren't you."

"And just what are you getting at, Boone?"

"I think if you're serious about wanting to help people, that's where I'd take those skills. Not wandering out here in the damn wastes."

"Excuse me, but who was it that reinforced your leather armor with Golden Gecko hides I tanned myself just this morning?"

"Look, I get it-- it's NCR, and you're independent," Boone continues, and my joking half-smile fades.

"But if I go with you, they'll probably let us in. I think you can help them, Casey. What do you say?"

"..." I don't really have a good reason to say no, but I can't help hesitating.

Boone sighs when it becomes apparent I don't have an answer, looking away to scan the horizon.

"Just... think about it, okay? I was meaning to ask if we could go up by Novac again soon though. I left some things in my room that I'd like to take care of."

My eyebrow arches. "And what's that about? Why are you only just now bringing this up?"

Now it's Boone's turn to hesitate. "...If you agree to go with me to the power plant, I'll tell you. But not before."

"Fair enough," I relent with a shrug. "I'll think about it."

\--

That night, Boone gets _plastered_ with Ranger Ghost and Cass and a bunch of the other soldiers-- I can hear their raucous drunken laughter pealing down the hall into the barracks where a few of us are trying to get some shuteye.

Every time their voices startle me out of sleep I clench my jaw, and by morning I've got a terrific headache blooming.

How Boone can drink with the sloppiest of these alcoholics half the night and not act the slightest bit hungover in the mornings, I'll never know. But when he stands over my bunk at 0600 I'm the one shrinking away and rolling over.

"Didn't sleep well," I say curtly when he sighs.

"Are you saying you actually want to stay here in this dump instead of going outside?"

Fuck, I can't argue with that kind of logic when I'm this tired. "I'll get dressed," I mutter.

A few minutes later I buy some water and minor pain pills for my headache from the canteen on my way out to meet up with Boone.

"All right," I say after swigging down a dose.

Boone tilts his head to one side. "All right?"

"Let's get out of here for good this time," I say, thinking back to how many times I've had to overhear Boone get called 'handsome' around here from people of all genders.

"Your idea to go to HELIOS One is solid. I want to take you up on it. Sorry it took me so long to come around."

"...Ah," Boone says, like he knows I'm full of shit right now but doesn't want to question it either.

"Well then, let's get going."

"Let's."

\--

It isn't until evening, when we're winding down by a campfire in a way I've sorely missed, that I realize something.

"Boone."

"Hmm." He's staring into the fire and I see the reflection dancing in his sunglasses.

"You said if I agreed to go to HELIOS you'd tell me why you want to go back to Novac. What you had to 'take care of' at your hotel room."

"I did say that, didn't I," Boone sighs. "Well, sorry, but I don't want to talk about it right now. Maybe not ever."

"Dude, that is so not cool."

"You'll get over it," he says knowingly.

Usually that level of banter would be fine with me but after over a week of listening to Boone schmooze with NCR I'm not in the mood.

"Mm," I reply, a dismissive barely-there noise in my throat.

"It's my business," Boone says defensively, and I raise my hands in surrender.

"All right, this is me officially backing off. Geez. Sorry I asked."

The silence between us grows tense as the fire smoulders down to embers. Above us the full moon glows blue and frigid, and the wind gets strong as the night goes on. It's growing close to whatever semblance of 'cold' as the Mojave ever gets now, being almost the end of November, and I shiver.

Boone says nothing the rest of the night and does not sleep when I do, his eyes unreadable past the reflection of glowing coals.

\--

It takes us two more days to reach Novac, and when we do I'm ready to say screw it all and part ways with this bullheaded NCR goon for good. Boone has been terse and uncommunicative the entire time, bristling every time I so much as comment on the weather, and I'm becoming frustrated.

If I'd thought that conversation about Carla would help him open up emotionally, I had thought very incorrectly. If anything he's more bottled up than ever now.

When we get to the hotel the golden light of afternoon is still bright on Dinky and his thermometer. A few people are outside in the courtyard and they wave hello.

I go up to 'my' room without comment, knowing no one is in it because I still have the key I got when I paid for it over a month ago. No one officially runs the Dino Dee-Lite Motel any more after hearing what happened to Jeannie May, so no one cares that I have it. The few empty rooms left are on an honor system rotation with passers-by, along with her house.

I know Boone's room is downstairs. I also know he gets mad as hell if anyone tries to come in, so I don't even ask or bother waiting outside. Collapsing onto my bed with a sigh, I'm grateful it's still clean in here and that no one's broken in-- human _or_ wildlife.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I hear is a sharp knocking on the door, military-style.

"Casey? This is your room, right?"

"Who is it," I call out grumpily even though I know the answer.

"It's Boone."

"I know that," I say in the same nasty sleep-rasped tone, shushing ED-E when it beeps inquisitively at the continued knocking.

"Casey!"

"Go away," I call out.

I hear what might be a sigh-- or perhaps a consternated grunt-- followed shortly by heavy booted footsteps clunking down the balcony railing, then the stairs.

And suddenly I'm kicking myself mentally for doing that. My door isn't even locked... I could have just invited him in. Why did I push him away? What if he leaves?

"So what if he leaves," I mutter bitterly. "They all do. Waste of time. ED-E's the only loyal one out here and that's how it'll always be."

Resolutely ignoring the wetness on my cheeks, I lay back down to sleep.

\--

I wake up super early the next morning, having slept as much as my body possibly can-- I haven't slept this long in _ages_. I must have truly been exhausted after days of hard travel on top of all the interrupted sleep at the Outpost.

I've almost forgotten how decadent it feels to wake up in your own bed, in your own room, in a safe and quiet place. Even sleeping in my day clothes by accident doesn't negate the feeling in the slightest.

Stretching slowly, I take my time getting out of bed. My body is stiff and sore in a few places from sleeping so much but as I stretch out it immediately starts to fade. I feel _so_ much better than I have been lately, in a lot of ways.

Then I remember what happened yesterday and I can't help a grimace as I wonder if I've been abandoned. If Boone really did go make good on his promise to go out shooting down some Legion. He seemed to want to be rid of me anyway, or at least that's what I tell myself after I wash up and get my gear back on.

But when I finally open the door, taking a deep breath to brace myself for the world outside this safe quiet room, I startle seeing Boone sitting on the balcony waiting for me-- he almost looks like he's dozing off, like he's been there for hours already.

"Boone?" I stumble over his name in my surprise as he looks up at me.

"Morning Casey," he says with a faint but genuine smile, and suddenly all my frustration with him is gone.

"Morning," I breathe back, feeling my heart skip a beat. "You seem to be feeling better."

"Yeah." Boone grunts as he stands up, running a hand over the back of his neck.

"I uh, I'm sorry Casey. For how I was acting before. And if you want, I'll show you what I had to take care of."

"Okay," I say quietly, and I follow him without another word.

Boone leads me around the back of the motel through the scrubland between it and the Gibson scrapyard. Dawn is poking its way over the mountain ridges, bathing everything in pink light. Mrs. Gibson is already up and sitting out on her REPCONN-scavenged chair surrounded by her three large dogs. She waves in greeting to us, calling out a cheery "Good morning!"

"Morning Mrs. Gibson," I call out to her, waving back with Boone.

Then he goes left, out behind No-Bark Noonan's shack, and my heart sinks when I see the grave.

It's obvious, fresh-dug and neat as it is with only a simple stick-tied cross for a marker, and I know that the things Boone had to "take care of" were clearly whatever items of Carla's he'd still been hanging onto. Now I want to kick myself again for not thinking of that sooner and being more compassionate.

"This is a nice spot, Boone," I say softly as we approach it.

"Thanks," is his gruff reply, and Boone has to clear his throat before continuing.

"Just... some stuff of hers, that's all. I kept the letters she wrote me when we were first dating while I was on active duty. I met her on leave, and at first I tried to go back to my post but... every time she wrote me, all I wanted to do was be back with her. Nothing else mattered."

I want to say I'm sorry, but the words stick in my throat. Boone sighs slowly.

"I read all the letters last night before burying them along with the rest of her things. And I swore I could hear her voice again. But she's gone now, Elliott, and I need to move on."

I'm shaken by his sudden use of my first name-- we haven't since the day we learned them.

"What does any of this have to do with me?"

"Because you're the one who made me realize it." Boone's giving me an intense look again, and it's too early to deal with this... I look away, but Boone isn't finished.

"You're the only one I've told the truth about Carla's death, and coming back here was... overwhelming. When I first came to your room last night, it was because I'd chickened out and wanted to leave before doing this. But when you told me to go away, I realized I had to sort this out myself. And I'm glad I did."

My face burns. How could I have been so selfish last night, thinking he was abandoning me? I abandoned _him_.

"Glad you figured it out, sorry I wasn't any help," I say, and then I'm startled again when Boone chuckles.

"Didn't you hear a word I said just now? Casey... you've helped me more than anyone since Carla got kidnapped, whether you've tried to or not. I might not be saying it properly though, so I'll just say this: thank you."

It takes me a moment to realize he's holding out his hand to shake. We haven't ever done this-- out here in the wastes it's less of a tradition nowadays than in the pre-war times, and when I first met Boone he nearly shot me from being so on-edge. Our introduction was less than friendly.

So this almost feels like an olive branch. An offer to start anew.

"You're welcome," I murmur as I take his hand and shake it.

Boone's hand is bigger than mine but not by much, warm and calloused and holding my hand securely yet not tight enough to hurt. I may have forgotten how to breathe regularly, to the point where I feel a bit lightheaded when he finally lets go.

"Are you hungry?" he asks in that endearingly serious way of his, and I nod.

We go back to the hotel for breakfast. Boone invites me into his room-- this is a big development, and I can sense it as he looks a bit uneasy at me sitting down.

"Are you sure this is all right? We can go to my room," I offer, even though mine doesn't have a kitchen or dining furniture the way Boone's does.

"No it's-- it's fine," he insists, getting out some gecko eggs to crack into a pan.

"Just haven't had anyone in here but Carla is all."

Even speaking with his back to me, I can sense the tension in him and I know what he just said must've been hard to admit.

"Well, thanks for being honest with me about that," I say in an attempt to reassure him. "It's okay to feel awkward about it."

Boone doesn't reply, stirring the eggs after turning the ancient rusted stovetop on. I change the subject to make the environment less tense for us both.

"So, I was thinking we could check out the power plant today, if you're still up for helping kiss enough ass to get me inside."

"Hm. They wouldn't even know me, I never came out this way on active duty," Boone says, but his voice has gone back to his normal tones and I know he's feeling better again.

"Kinda regretting convincing you to bury your beret," I lament, and he chuckles.

"Being in the NCR is something you can identify without any uniform," he says, glancing at me over his shoulder before turning back to the eggs.

"All I have to do is start talking shit about some not-so-popular COs back at McCarran and the Embassy and they'll know exactly what team I'm on."

"Great, more NCR to get you riled up and telling war stories," I sigh before I can stop myself, and Boone looks over his shoulder again and frowns.

"...Was it really bothering you that much? You never said anything."

"Because it was their turf and they don't take kindly to being criticized on it," I mutter while drawing my knees up to my chest the way I do when I feel defensive, hooking my heels on the edge of my seat and winding my hands around my shins.

It's something I've done since childhood, being flexible still in my fat body, but since getting nearly killed by Benny I've quite unintentionally lost a fair amount of weight from the stress of survival and it's easier to do now than ever.

"Doesn't mean you have to make yourself a martyr," Boone points out, and I sigh.

"Yes, you're right. I've got my own emotional issues that I don't properly deal with and it wasn't fair of me to give you shit for yours, okay?"

"It's not a competition, Casey," Boone says quietly as he continues to stir the eggs, and the fragrance of them is finally reaching me-- even unseasoned, it smells good.

"Don't coddle my emotions at the expense of yours. You've got a right to express yourself, too."

"Mm." But I don't feel that way, not really.

I'm so used to coddling everyone else's emotions at the expense of my own that I don't know any other way to live at this point. My family made _me_ coddle _them_ through _my_ transition _and_ me coming out as gay; my first lover made _me_ coddle _him_ through our break up even though it was his idea; the list goes on. Even Boone's already done it to me in his own unintentional way, and for some fucked-up reason I'm still obsessed with this lunk.

A wave of bitterness runs through me, cold and painful. I sigh and let my feet fall back to the floor as my legs stretch out; my head slumps down further and further until my chin nearly touches the tabletop.

A minute later a plate of steaming eggs is slid in front of me. And despite my emotional turmoil, I _am_ hungry.

"Thanks," I say as I pick up my fork and take a bite-- they're surprisingly fluffy.

"These are good, Boone. Really good."

"Well don't sound so surprised," Boone says indignantly, but when I look up across the table he's smiling at me.

It's so disarming that I can't help but smile back.

"Out in these wastes, every day is a surprise," I say, a bit more candidly than I intend to.

"I know that's right," Boone agrees, and we pass the rest of breakfast in a companionable silence.

**Author's Note:**

> I was originally planning on delving much more into the quest line of HELIOS One in this part but I decided, if you want that level of detail you can read the wiki or watch a let's play or play the game lol. I'm providing you delicious MLM subtext and that's all. 
> 
> Though the next part will actually play out a mini sidequest from Novac if you're wanting some gamey feel back in this series, hope you stay tuned. I'll also reference the chosen outcome of the HELIOS One quest.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you like this so far or if you have any suggestions or ideas for future parts!


End file.
